The Astor is making a mark on the local art deco bar-cafe scene with the launch of the Overlook café-bar. If the name does not send shivers down your spine then you’ve probably never had the pleasure of watching the Stanley Kubrick movie adaption of Stephen King’s 1977 novel, The Shining.
For those who don’t know much about the connection between The Shining and the Overlook Hotel, the hotel is where Jack Nicholson and his family decide to spend around six months while the hotel is closed for the winter. Not creepy at all, right? Wrong! Jack Nicholson descends into madness with the help of the hotel’s former guests. By guests, I mean ghosts. By ghosts, I mean homicidal ghosts who will haunt your dreams to the end of time. You just need to see the movie to do it justice.
The café-bar has dedicated itself to the kookiness of The Shining and not the terrifying parts that had me cowering behind my hands during the screening. The atmosphere at the Overlook café-bar is somewhat familiar but it still manages to convey a memory of something past.
Unlike the movie you will not find any ghosts here, but what you will find is a range of delicious food, such as pastries by Ned’s Bake in nearby South Yarra, with Doughboy doughnuts, and vegan cupcakes by Baking Bad. For the night time crowd there is DOC charcuterie, Milk The Cow cheese, pies by Harrow and Eaton, and fine selection of wine and craft beers.
What I was really impressed with was how they managed to converge the look and feel of the Astor into the grandiose, art deco styling seen in Kubrick’s adaption of The Shining. It is seamless.
The Overlook café-bar at the Astor will be the place to be if you want to unwind for the day or spend hours trying to work through all the theories of The Shining.
I have one piece of advice: Just don’t order the Redrum.
– Angela
Lover of The Shining and the Overlook Hotel
Overlook
3–5 Chapel Street,
St Kilda (next to The Astor Theatre), VIC 3182
http://www.astortheatre.net.au/
